Pulled Pork Panini

Last week I took a day off work to spend with my best friend. She is the same age as me - early 30s - and owns three restaurants in the town of Belfast, Maine (a pub, an Italian place, and a Mexican place). She is pretty amazing.

So of course I had to make her an awesome lunch. Every time we go to visit her she treats us to lunch at whichever restaurant of hers that we want to go. Believe me, the good life is eating at a nice restaurant with the owner at your table.

I decided on pulled pork paninis and a curried carrot soup. We had recently had pulled pork and coleslaw (cabbage and carrots came in the winter CSA) for supper and I had made some bread just for this. I've been wanting to make a cake and decided this was a good opportunity. I'll include the pulled pork, coleslaw and panini recipes here and the cake one will be separate.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Source: Pioneer Woman

1 medium sized pork butt/shoulder
1 large onion, quartered
1 bottle soda (I used Dr. Pepper)
1/2 small can chipolte peppers
4 tablespoons brown sugar

Season the pork with salt and pepper. Lay the onion quarters on the bottle of the crock pot. Put the pork on top of them and add the rest of the ingredients. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove the pork and pull, removing the fat from the meat. (Pioneer Woman suggests adding the pulled pork to the sauce in the crock pot but I think it would have been too spicy for my toddler so I left it as is and loved it.)

Creamy Coleslaw
Source: Martha Stewart

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 cup mayonnaise (I did half mayo and half yogurt)

1/4 cup sour cream

1 small green cabbage, finely shredded

2 medium carrots, coarsely grated

Whisk together mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, salt, mayonnaise, and sour cream in a small bowl. Refrigerate dressing, covered, until ready to use, or up to 2 days.

Put cabbage, carrots, and onion (if desired) in a large bowl. Pour in dressing, and toss thoroughly. Refrigerate, covered, until slaw begins to soften, 1 to 2 hours. If not using immediately, refrigerate, covered, up to 2 days. Just before serving, toss coleslaw again.

Pulled Pork Panini
Source: ME!

Sour dough bread or focaccia

Salted butter

Pulled pork

Coleslaw

BBQ sauce (I used an awesome maple sauce made in VT)

Cheddar cheese, shredded

**I wanted to add caramelized onion but I forgot to make them ahead of time**

Heat panini press or grill pan on medium. Butter the bread and then layer all the ingredients on one slice, putting cheese on top and bottom. Top with the other piece of bread and panini press it! YUM.

Kinda Gamy

My big brother is awesome. He is a registered Maine Guide and breeds bird dogs (English Setters). Every year he, his wife, and his in-laws throw this feast of wild game. There are tables filled with soups, stews, dips, etc. of meats that he and his friends have shot during hunting season. Then they also fry and grill up meats to serve fresh at another counter. For those of you who don't know me, I don't eat meat nor does my husband. We like to go and support big brother and dine on mac and cheese and salad...and dessert of course!

This year my brother asked me if I would make a wild game gumbo for him. I kind of laughed at first. Even when I did eat meat I didn't eat red meat and I rarely cooked with meat. Still, I took on his challenge. He gave me the recipe out of "Ducks Unlimited" and provided me with smoked sausage, shrimp, homemade chicken stock, and venison (thank goodness it was all cut into chunks already).

I took this picture because I want people to know I really had raw deer meat! (gave me the heebie geebies but the cats LOVED the smell of it cooking)

I cooked this in a crock pot thinking it would better meld the flavors. After simmering away all day I added 1.5 cups of rice since I was transporting this to a party. I tried a spoonful of the rice and a shrimp before leaving and thought it was really tasty. If I were serving to a bunch of my adult friends I would have spiced it up a bunch but I knew that there were kids at this gathering so I kept it mild. We think we might try to make something similar with a bunch of seafood!

Duck Gumbo
Ducks Unlimited Magazine
Serves: 8-10

1/2 cup peanut oil (I used veggie)
4 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups onion, diced
1 1/2 cups bell pepper, any color, seeded and diced
1 pound Andouille sausage (or your favorite smoked sausage), diced
3 cups boneless, skinless duck breast fillets, each cut into 3 or 4 pieces (I used venison)
3 quarts chicken broth
1 tablespoon filé powder (Don't know what it is so it didn't go in)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon salt
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
6–8 cups cooked warm white rice

1. In a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, combine peanut oil and flour to make the roux. Cook while stirring constantly until roux is mahogany in color. Remove from heat and stir in onions and peppers (this will help cool the roux).

2. In a large, heavy stockpot over medium heat, cook sausage until browned. Add duck and cook until browned. Add chicken broth, filé powder, paprika, salt, and garlic. Stir in roux mixture thoroughly and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until duck is very tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

3. Once duck is tender, stir in shrimp, thyme, and parsley. Cook until shrimp is pink, about 4 to 6 minutes more. Mound about 3/4 cup rice in bowls and ladle gumbo over.